


Family Tree

by sydiy5bea



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Cassie emulating her mom, Curiosity, F/M, Interviews, School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-22 22:32:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8303645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sydiy5bea/pseuds/sydiy5bea
Summary: Cassie is assigned a project from school that requires some digging into her family's past.





	1. Mom

Cassie is silent on the bus ride home, staring out the window at the world passing by. Lost in thought, she almost misses her bus stop. Even after she hops off the last step of the bus, she can hardly pay attention to her mother's words.

"Hello? Earth to Cassie?" Mom waves her hand in front of Cassie's face.

She blinks away her thoughts and snaps to attention. "Huh? Did you say something?"

"Yeah, I asked you how your day was," Mom laughs. She taps the side of Cassie's head. "Anybody home?"

"Sorry, I had a great day, but I have this big project due next week, and I don't think I'm going to do so great on it."

"Why is that, baby?"

"I have to make a family tree."

"Oh, that shouldn't be hard. Your father and I can help you if you're that worried about it."

"I don't think you can help me with this. All the other kids in my class have lots or grandmas and grandpas and aunts and uncles and cousins. I only have two grandparents and that's it! Miss. Reading is going to give me a bad grade."

"I don't think that's how that works, Cass. She won't grade you worse because you have a smaller family. And besides, you have a bigger family than just Grandma and Grandpa."

"I do?"

"Mm hm. You also have Sam and Sully, not to mention me, Dad, and Vicky."

Cassie mulls this over as Mom unlocks the side door. Vicky jumps around and barks happily now that her humans are home. Cassie pats her dog, then says, "I guess you're right. I should get started right away since my tree is going to be super huge!"

"That's right, baby," Mom laughs. "Before you get started on the real thing, you should make a rough draft."

"Rough draft?"

"A plan for what you're going to do before doing the actual thing."

"Oh, okay."

Mom returns from her office with a blank piece of paper and a pencil. "Let's start with my side of the family," she says, drawing a circle around her name.

"Grandma and Grandpa!"

"That's right," she laughs. "They're my parents."

"Your parents? I didn't know you had any parents."

"Of course I have parents. Everyone has parents."

"So Grandma and Grandpa are your mom and dad?"

"Yup."

"Are they Dad's parents, too?"

"In a way... but not really. Dad has his own parents."

"Who are his parents?"

"That's not for me to tell. You should ask Sully and Sam. Your dad gets weird about this stuff. Let's call them and see what they're up to."

"Yay, Sully and Sam! They always bring me presents when they come."

"Mm hm," Mom says looking at her phone. "They sure love spoiling you, don't they?"

"It's not spoiling if they only give me presents on special occasions. That's what Sully says."

"And every time they see you is a special occasion?"

"That's what Sam says."

"Alright, fair enough," Mom sighs, putting her phone to her ear. "Let's give those old softies a call."


	2. Uncle

Cassie adjusts her new glasses before admitting her subject into her room. "Please, come in," she says, bounding away to take her seat behind her desk. "Take a seat."

"Thanks for having me, Cass," Sam says with an amused smile, dropping into his seat across from her. "What's all this about?"

"I need to ask you a few questions for my family tree project."

"Uh, okay. Ask away." Sam shifts with unease. He already doesn't like where this is going, but he'll endure it for Cassie. Anything for Cassie.

"Okay, can you state your name for the record?"

He leans toward one of Elena’s old recording devices and says, "Samuel Drake."

"So Mr. Sam, how are you related to me?"

"I'm your uncle."

"Uncle..." Cassie dips her head to carefully write the word "uncle" in her notebook. "So that means you're... Dad's..."

"I'm your dad's brother,” he helps.

"Brother..." She draws a line from "brother" to "Dad". "Who's your mom and dad?"

"My mother was Cassandra... Morgan." Sam stumbles on the last name. He hasn't said or even thought about it in years.

"Cassandra? That's my name!"

"Yeah, that's right. You're named after her."

"I am? Why haven't I ever met her?"

"Well..." He pauses. "She... passed away… when your father and I were young."

"Before I was born?"

"Yes."

"Oh, that’s sad. What was she like?"

Sam sighs and looks off into the distance for a moment before focusing on his niece. "She was kind to everyone she met, even the unkind ones. And she was beautiful. So beautiful. And smarter than all hell. She was an amazing person.” He pauses for another breath. “You remind me so much of her. She would have loved to meet you, Cass.”

“What about your dad?”

“What about him?” Sam asks, trying to buy more time. Agreeing to let Cassie interview him without knowing the subject was a bad idea.

“Let’s start with his name.” Her purple pen hovers above her notebook in anticipation.

“Uh… John Morgan.” The room is silent as Cassie scribbles down the name. Sam’s left with a sour taste in his mouth.

“Is he still alive?” Cassie asks, unknowingly blunt.

Sam purses his lips. “I, uh… I don’t know.”

She gives him a quizzical look. “What? Why not?”

“I… We… See, your father and I…” Sam takes a deep breath to calm his racing heart and collect his thoughts. “Remember how I said my mom was an awesome person?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, my dad was the opposite of that.”

Cassie looks even more confused. “Your dad was a… bad dad?”

Sam nods, swallowing hard. “Yeah.”

“Well… where is he?” she asks quietly.

“After our mom died… Dad didn’t want to look after me and Nathan anymore. He took us to an orphanage, then he left. Never to be heard from again.”

“What’s an orph… orphan-“

“An orphanage is where children go when there’s no adult to take care of them.”

“That sounds scary.”

“Well… sorta. It wasn’t that bad because I had your dad to keep me company.”

“How old were you and Dad when your daddy left?” Cassie practically whispers, hugging herself tightly.

“Um… You're six, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Okay, well, I was ten and Nathan was... five."

“Oh no,” she pouts, eyes growing bigger. “That’s very sad. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, Cass.” He quickly gets out of his chair to sit beside the little girl and pull her into his side. Sam hates seeing his niece upset. “It happened a long time ago.”

“I didn’t know all that about your mom and dad.” She pauses and looks up at her uncle with uncertainty. “Are Mommy and Daddy going to-?“

“Nonononono, darling. They’d never leave you, Cassie. They love you so much. They would never give you away.”

“But what if Mommy… passes away? Like your mommy?”

“If something terrible like that happens, your father will keep you as close as possible. Trust me, sweetie. Your parents would never purposely leave you.”

“But what if there’s an accident and both Mommy and Daddy... go away? Do I have to go to the or-phan-age, too?”

“No, you’d just come to live with me and Sully. Or Elena’s parents, but I’d make a pretty strong argument for keeping you.” He pokes her in the stomach to make her laugh. “But don’t worry about that, darling. Accidents of that caliber are very rare. You’re not losing your mom or dad anytime soon. Your parents are very different from my dad.”

“I can’t believe someone would do that to another person. It’s awful and terrible and mean.”

“Mm-hm. But don’t you worry about that, darling. Some people are just worse than others. Your dad and I just got unlucky, I guess.”

She frowns then detaches herself from Sam to angrily scribble out the name “John Morgan”. “I don’t want him on my project,” she proclaims. “He’s not family.”

Sam laughs with sad eyes. “I love you, girly,” he murmurs, pulling her close.

“Love you too, Mr. Sam.”


	3. Um... Sully

Cassie opens the door after hearing a short knock. Vicky rushes in before Sully can even say anything. "No, Vicky! I can't interview you. You can't speak English, silly," Cassie giggles.

"Off you go, girly," Sully says, grabbing her by the collar and escorting out. "We can play later."

Once they're alone, Cassie reaches up to Sully for a hug. "Sully!"

"Hey, darling. How've you been?"

"Awesome!"

"Good to hear. Your mother said you wanted to ask me a few questions."

"Yeah, have a seat."

"Heh, alright..." He sits at the chair across from her's with an amused smile. "What's up?"

"Could you state your name for the record please?"

"Victor Sullivan."

She lifts an eyebrow in curiosity. "Victor? I thought your name was Sully?"

"Your father calls me that. It comes from my last name."

"Like in Monster's Inc.?"

"I... don't follow."

"You've never seen Monster's Inc.? It's a really good movie!"

"What's it got to do with me?"

"There's a monster called Sully in it. He's really big and hairy and blue with polka dots."

"So he looks like me too?"

Cassie laughs. "You're so funny." She takes a deep breath and pulls her notebook closer. "Back to business. How are you related to me? I need to know for my family tree project."

Sully frowns, trying to figure out how to word it. "Oh darling, I'm not related."

It's Cassie's turn to frown. "Then... why do you come over all the time?"

"I'm a... family friend."

"But... Mommy said that you were family. And Mommy's never wrong. That's what Dad says."

"Heh, I'm sure he does, but um, no. I'm just a friend."

"Hm... okay. So, how close are you to Mom and Dad?"

"Um... Pretty close. I've known your dad since he was a kid."

"Really? Did you meet him in the or-phan-age?"

"What? Uh, no. I actually met him in South America. He was, uh... living on his own. On the streets."

"The streets? No house?"

"No house."

"What about Sam?"

"He wasn't around at the time. I looked after your dad until he could stand on his own two feet. We've been... close ever since."

"So you were like his dad?"

"Well, not really. More like business partners."

"I don't think business partners give each other homes to live in." Cassie crosses her arms and raises a suspicious eyebrow. "I think you're my dad's second dad, but you just don't want to admit it."

"Oh boy..." Sully sighs. "You are just like your parents, you know that? Brilliant and love to stick their noses where it doesn't belong."

"My nose is just fine, thank you very much," she huffs. "Now answer the question. I've seen the way you and Dad talk to each other, hug each other, the jokes you tell to each other. You even call him 'kid'. I'm not stupid."

"I know you're not, darling. I would never think that. But I don't belong on your family tree."

"Yes, you do. There's a place for you right here." Cassie erases a crossed out name and fills it in with "Sully".

"Who was that you just erased?" Sully asks.

"John Morgan. Daddy's dad."

"Morgan, huh? Not Drake?"

"That's what Sam said."

"Huh. He's not on your tree, but I am? How does that work?"

"Sam said their dad wasn't nice. He left Dad and Sam at the or-phan-age all by themselves. You seem like a better dad than him."

"Okay then." Sully reaches over and ruffles her hair. "Thanks for this, darling. This was, um... very gratifying."

"You're welcome, Sully. Thanks for taking care of my dad."

"No problem. If it meant getting to meet you, it was worth it."


	4. Dad

Cassie flinches at the table as the side door swings open. "Hell-o-o! I'm ho-ome!" Dad calls from the doorway.

"Daddy!" she yells, springing from her chair to give him a hug.

Dad lifts Cassie up under the arms and holds her close as she hugs him around the neck. "Hey, baby girl. How was your week? Sorry I wasn't back sooner. The meeting took a lot longer than expected."

"Awesome! I got a project from school. I want to show you!" Cassie points to the table and unintentionally kicks her father in the side in her excitement.

"Ah," he exhales, covering it up with a smile. "Let's see what you've got, lemur."

"It's my family tree. Look!" she strains slightly, and Dad puts her feet back on the ground. Cassie climbs back up onto her chair and points at her colorful poster. "There's you and Mom. Grandma and Grandpa are over here. Your mom, Sully, and Sam are over here. And Chloe and Charlie insisted on me putting them over in the 'basically family' category, and Jada has a dotted line by Sully. Even Vicky is here."

"Wow..." Dad mutters, passing a hand over his mother's name. "How did you...?"

"Sam," Cassie supplies, guessing his question.

"And...?" He points to the words "best friend/partner/dad" written along the line connecting Sully to Dad's name. "How...?"

"Sully."

He traces the outline of an erased name. "Who's...?"

"John Morgan."

Alarmed, Dad looks at Cassie with wide eyes.

He doesn't even have to ask. "Sam," she whispers.

"Why...?"

"He said he wasn't a good dad. I thought Sully would look better right there."

"Yeah..." Dad sits back in his chair. "So you... asked them all about... the family?"

"Yep. Sully and Sam are still here. They didn't want to leave without seeing you."

"Huh." Dad turns to Cassie and runs a hand through her hair. "You really thought of everyone."

She nods. "Yeah. I guess I didn't realize how big my family was."

"Ditto."

"Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you help me draw and color them? You're a better drawer than me."

"Of course, lemur. We'll do it together."

"Yay! I'll go grab my colored pencils."

Cassie jumps off her chair and runs to her room to grab the art supplies she got for Christmas a few years back. When she returns to the dining room table, she finds her dad locked in an embrace with his brother. Sully does the same after Sam lets go. Vicky's jumping around her owner's legs, leash still attached. Cassie runs in after Sully. "My turn, my turn!"


End file.
